There are TONS of things you can do to conserve energy and make a huge positive impact on the planet! Here are 27 ways you can challenge yourself to be greener. Every day you make tons of decisions that decide how much energy you consume. Want to consume less and reduce your carbon footprint? Try these!

(1) Turn the thermostat down by 2 degrees in the winter. Reduce CO2 emissions by 0.62%.

(2) Stay in town for the weekend. Drive 100 fewer miles per week and reduce CO2 emissions by 4.11%.

(3) Replace the incandescent light bulbs in your house with compact florescent ones. These use less energy and last longer and cut down on CO2 emissions. It’s a win-win-win situation.

(4) Dry your clothes outside on a clothesline or inside on a rack instead of putting them in the dryer.

(5) Only turn lights on in the evening or early morning when the sun doesn’t come in through the windows. Turn lights off as you leave rooms.

(6) Going on vacation? Make sure the heat or A/C is turned down and the water heater is turned off before leaving.

(7) Use cold water when doing laundry whenever possible.

(8) Carpool next time you and your friends are going somewhere together. You’ll save gas by not driving multiple cars!

(9) Unplug! Unplug power strips and appliances that you don’t use that often or only at certain times of the day (chargers, cordless tools, etc). Even though they may be turned off, the “standby” energy used is equal to that of a 75 watt light bulb running continuously.

(10) Enable the "sleep mode" feature on your computer, allowing it to use less power during periods of inactivity. In Windows, the power management settings are found on your control panel. Mac users, look for energy saving settings under system preferences in the apple menu.

(11) Configure your computer to "hibernate" automatically after 30 minutes or so of inactivity. The "hibernate mode" turns the computer off in a way that doesn't require you to reload everything when you switch it back on. Allowing your computer to hibernate saves energy and is more time-efficient than shutting down and restarting your computer from scratch.

Water Conservation

Though the majority of planet earth is water (look at a map and you can clearly see how many bodies of waters there are!), only 3% of it can be used as drinking water. Let’s do something now to ensure this lasts us!

(12) Shorten your showers to less than 10 minutes. Already doing it in less than 10 minutes? Make it 7.

(13) Turn off the water while you're brushing your teeth, shaving, or washing your face.

(14) Leaky faucet or shower head? A dripping faucet can waste up to 2,000 gallons/7,600 liters of water a year. Check the plumbing in your house and repair the leaks as soon as possible.

(15) Ask your parents if they’d like to invest in low-flush toilets, shower heads and faucet aerators. You’ll save thousands of gallons of water each year and your parents’ water bill will be lower!

(16) Call your water utility and ask for a copy of their latest water quality report. Public water utilities regularly test the quality of the drinking water they provide to customers.

(17) Reduce your use of pesticides and fertilizers, and look for safer alternatives to control weeds and bugs. Lawn and garden pesticides and fertilizers can pollute the water. Some alternative are geraniums to repel Japanese beetles; garlic and mint to repel aphids; and marigolds to repel whiteflies.

(18) Never water at the hottest time of day or when it's windy to make the most of the water you use outdoors. Turnoff your sprinklers when it’s raining. On average, 50% - 70% of household water is used outdoors for watering lawns and gardens.

(19) Have a garden? Use mulch. It helps to conserve water by holding moisture in the earth longer.

Pollution Prevention

We all know that we are supposed to reduce, reuse, and recycle, but what exactly does that mean? It’s not just putting your soda bottles out every week and using grocery bags as lunch bags. Here are some other ideas that are easy enough for you to do and encourage others to do as well.

(20) Reuse bags and containers. brown paper bags are great for wrapping packages. Wash out plastic containers and glass jars you buy food in and use them as Tupperware.

(21) Use old newspapers as wrapping paper and jazz it up with pretty ribbon or a bow. If you’re lucky you might get Sunday’s color comic section.

(22) Donate old clothes and toys to a local shelter or second hand store like Goodwill or Salvation Army. Remember, one person’s trash is another person’s treasure!

(23) Organize an in-home recycling center and teach your family how to use it. Have separate bins for glass, plastics, and newspaper/cardboard. Make a deal with your family that if they put their recyclables in the bins that you’ll take them to the curb.

(24) Be fancy! Replace the use of paper napkins at dinnertime with cloth napkins. You can wash these a couple of times a week, or whenever they are dirty. Use dish towels to wipe up messes instead of paper towels. These, too, will help cut down on the amount of garbage your household produces.

(25) Choose paper over plastic for your party. Having people and want to use disposable plates and cups? Skip the plastic and get paper ones. These break down easier in the environment and don’t deplete the ozone layer as much (although it’s better to nix the disposables and use washables!).

(26) Ask the dry cleaners if they will take back their wire hangers and use them again. Or even keep them for yourself and put them to good use.

(27) Grocery Store Cashier: "Paper or plastic?" You: "Neither!" When grocery shopping, take your own reusable canvas or cloth bags (or ask your parents to).